Post Mortem 4/15
Good trip!
Haven't been able to say that for a while. It was nothing mind-blowing, and nothing to tell stories to my non-existent grandkids about but just a good, enjoyable trip.
Got in early and on-time via Southwest on Friday morning, bee-lined to the MGM to get things rolling. Went into the Whiskey Down bar and had several beers and shots of, um whiskey. Got introduced to a good new one called Blanton's. Figured I should get something to eat so I ended up at Tom's Urban at NYNY again. Had a very meh Eggs Benedict. Everything I've eaten in 3 tries there has been very meh. Not going again. Don't think it's going to last long, it's never very busy.
Made my way over to Monte Carlo around 12p to check in. Absolute pleasure checking in, went to the Mlife preferred check in room and was in and out of there in about 3 minutes. This time they didn't charge me for my "room hold" fee and they apparently waived my resort fee, without me asking for it. My total charge for 3 nights at MC? $0. I had arranged via email with a casino host early checkin and late checkout before getting there and had mentioned it was my birthday weekend, so maybe that was it? Anyway, great start to the weekend.
Got up to the room to dump the bag and take a nap. Was on floor 28 of 32, so a good view. I was above the pool and had a view of Aria and the valley and mountains behind it. The rooms are in desperate need of top to bottom renovation, they look very dated, but they are a good size, clean, and comfortable enough for a single guy. Maybe a slight downgrade from NYNY rooms but fine. Good sized bathroom, heavenly shower.
Ended up taking about a 4 hour nap and realized I could hear the "thump thump" of the shitty EDM the pool party below was playing. It wasn't TOO loud but it was noticeable enough that if I get a room there again I'll request a different side of the tower. Woke up, cleaned up, and headed to the casino to play a little losing slots (theme at MC for sure), have a couple beers at the Pub at MC then made my way to the d.Vino wine bar for dinner. Had the gnocchi Bolognese that I had been itching for, was kinda mushy and too full of mushrooms but the bartender there was very personable so I ended up having a good time.
The rest of that night is also a little mushy, as I think the early wake up call and copious drinking caught up to me late. I'm sure I made my way down to Cosmo but beyond that details are foggy at best. Think I was in bed by 2-ish at the latest.
Saturday, birthday day, woke up to the shitty EDM at about 12p, got up and headed out. This ended up being a little frustrating as all I wanted to do was get something to eat but everywhere I went there was a line of people, not too surprising I guess for 12:30p on a Saturday in Vegas. Ended up not eating (mistake) and spending the day drinking heavily first at Vesper at Cosmo (great guys in the there), then Chandelier Bar at Cosmo, then I wandered all the way down to Rockhouse at Venetian but it was wall to wall so I just drunk stumbled back (now in the rain) to get to my reservation ALL the way back at NYNY by 7p. That's about 3 miles, folks. I still haven't eaten anything. Failed in my plan to watch all but the last minute of the series clinching Warriors win.
Finally got the eating thing done at the lovely Gallagher's at NY, had a good, not great steak and hung out drinking wine for a while. They gave me birthday ice cream. Yay. Went into Nine Fine after for a while but the long day with no nap and heavy drinking was getting to me. I was close to nodding off a couple times and was not into party mode so I went to bed pretty early, must have been not much after 12a at the latest. Birthday done.
Sunday woke up early around 9:30a, then kinda futzed around and fell back to sleep until the shitty EDM kicked in around 12p. Up and down to the Strip. Made my way over to the P.U.B. at Aria. I've had bad food and good times here before and was there for Sunday brunch. The pattern held except the good times part. So it was out of there and back to MC, trying to wake out of a groggy feeling, first with a coffee at Starbucks then with a shot at the Pub and at Double Barrel, no use, so I decided to go up for a nap. The shitty EDM (Vegas is great, but the shitty EDM everywhere is killing me) and a neighbor watching sitcoms loudly in the next room, FOR HOURS, spoiled it. Seriously, people, you come to fucking Vegas, the fun capital of the world, and you sit in your room watching Seinfeld for hours? You should be shot.
Decided to take another shower to break out of the doldrums which ended up working and it was out again and slowly working my way down the Strip again. Went back to Cosmo, won a few hundie in the slots finally which I had been getting raped on and hung there a bit then went back down to Venetian to see if my fave bartender was working. She wasn't. I had a cold turkey dog (all I ate all night), several shots and started working BACK down the Strip toward bed, drinking all the way. Stopped in the Linq to have a couple at BLVD Cocktail, then ended up at Vesper again which by now was pretty dead. Sunday nights are always strangely dead in Vegas. Had a not-so-attractive hooker half-heartedly try to pick me up (she failed), had a few more drinks at Book and Stage then made my way back to MC, at like 5a. Threw $400 more away in the slots there and staggered to bed with the sun coming up at about 7a.
Monday, up at 11:30a (thank you late check out), shower, airport, late flight, home to my hobbit hole by 5p. Vegas trip #2 of 2015 in the books.
So, like I say, nothing mind-blowing, just a lot of drinking, some good food, a little good conversation, a lot of walking up and down the strip. Fun though. A no pressure trip, as it was basically a bonus trip tacked on to the March trip. This one was done right. No goofy logistics, I planned that part well, nice room, nice resort, I came back with about a grand which was more than expected, so all in all about a 7/10. Re-affirms my faith in Vegas somewhat and I'm not swearing off the place like I almost did the last two trips. No plans for the next trip yet but probably something in the June-August range will work. With the guaranteed Xmas sure to happen, another 4-trip year coming up.
Bring it on.
Haven't been able to say that for a while. It was nothing mind-blowing, and nothing to tell stories to my non-existent grandkids about but just a good, enjoyable trip.
Got in early and on-time via Southwest on Friday morning, bee-lined to the MGM to get things rolling. Went into the Whiskey Down bar and had several beers and shots of, um whiskey. Got introduced to a good new one called Blanton's. Figured I should get something to eat so I ended up at Tom's Urban at NYNY again. Had a very meh Eggs Benedict. Everything I've eaten in 3 tries there has been very meh. Not going again. Don't think it's going to last long, it's never very busy.
Made my way over to Monte Carlo around 12p to check in. Absolute pleasure checking in, went to the Mlife preferred check in room and was in and out of there in about 3 minutes. This time they didn't charge me for my "room hold" fee and they apparently waived my resort fee, without me asking for it. My total charge for 3 nights at MC? $0. I had arranged via email with a casino host early checkin and late checkout before getting there and had mentioned it was my birthday weekend, so maybe that was it? Anyway, great start to the weekend.
Got up to the room to dump the bag and take a nap. Was on floor 28 of 32, so a good view. I was above the pool and had a view of Aria and the valley and mountains behind it. The rooms are in desperate need of top to bottom renovation, they look very dated, but they are a good size, clean, and comfortable enough for a single guy. Maybe a slight downgrade from NYNY rooms but fine. Good sized bathroom, heavenly shower.
Ended up taking about a 4 hour nap and realized I could hear the "thump thump" of the shitty EDM the pool party below was playing. It wasn't TOO loud but it was noticeable enough that if I get a room there again I'll request a different side of the tower. Woke up, cleaned up, and headed to the casino to play a little losing slots (theme at MC for sure), have a couple beers at the Pub at MC then made my way to the d.Vino wine bar for dinner. Had the gnocchi Bolognese that I had been itching for, was kinda mushy and too full of mushrooms but the bartender there was very personable so I ended up having a good time.
The rest of that night is also a little mushy, as I think the early wake up call and copious drinking caught up to me late. I'm sure I made my way down to Cosmo but beyond that details are foggy at best. Think I was in bed by 2-ish at the latest.
Saturday, birthday day, woke up to the shitty EDM at about 12p, got up and headed out. This ended up being a little frustrating as all I wanted to do was get something to eat but everywhere I went there was a line of people, not too surprising I guess for 12:30p on a Saturday in Vegas. Ended up not eating (mistake) and spending the day drinking heavily first at Vesper at Cosmo (great guys in the there), then Chandelier Bar at Cosmo, then I wandered all the way down to Rockhouse at Venetian but it was wall to wall so I just drunk stumbled back (now in the rain) to get to my reservation ALL the way back at NYNY by 7p. That's about 3 miles, folks. I still haven't eaten anything. Failed in my plan to watch all but the last minute of the series clinching Warriors win.
Finally got the eating thing done at the lovely Gallagher's at NY, had a good, not great steak and hung out drinking wine for a while. They gave me birthday ice cream. Yay. Went into Nine Fine after for a while but the long day with no nap and heavy drinking was getting to me. I was close to nodding off a couple times and was not into party mode so I went to bed pretty early, must have been not much after 12a at the latest. Birthday done.
Sunday woke up early around 9:30a, then kinda futzed around and fell back to sleep until the shitty EDM kicked in around 12p. Up and down to the Strip. Made my way over to the P.U.B. at Aria. I've had bad food and good times here before and was there for Sunday brunch. The pattern held except the good times part. So it was out of there and back to MC, trying to wake out of a groggy feeling, first with a coffee at Starbucks then with a shot at the Pub and at Double Barrel, no use, so I decided to go up for a nap. The shitty EDM (Vegas is great, but the shitty EDM everywhere is killing me) and a neighbor watching sitcoms loudly in the next room, FOR HOURS, spoiled it. Seriously, people, you come to fucking Vegas, the fun capital of the world, and you sit in your room watching Seinfeld for hours? You should be shot.
Decided to take another shower to break out of the doldrums which ended up working and it was out again and slowly working my way down the Strip again. Went back to Cosmo, won a few hundie in the slots finally which I had been getting raped on and hung there a bit then went back down to Venetian to see if my fave bartender was working. She wasn't. I had a cold turkey dog (all I ate all night), several shots and started working BACK down the Strip toward bed, drinking all the way. Stopped in the Linq to have a couple at BLVD Cocktail, then ended up at Vesper again which by now was pretty dead. Sunday nights are always strangely dead in Vegas. Had a not-so-attractive hooker half-heartedly try to pick me up (she failed), had a few more drinks at Book and Stage then made my way back to MC, at like 5a. Threw $400 more away in the slots there and staggered to bed with the sun coming up at about 7a.
Monday, up at 11:30a (thank you late check out), shower, airport, late flight, home to my hobbit hole by 5p. Vegas trip #2 of 2015 in the books.
So, like I say, nothing mind-blowing, just a lot of drinking, some good food, a little good conversation, a lot of walking up and down the strip. Fun though. A no pressure trip, as it was basically a bonus trip tacked on to the March trip. This one was done right. No goofy logistics, I planned that part well, nice room, nice resort, I came back with about a grand which was more than expected, so all in all about a 7/10. Re-affirms my faith in Vegas somewhat and I'm not swearing off the place like I almost did the last two trips. No plans for the next trip yet but probably something in the June-August range will work. With the guaranteed Xmas sure to happen, another 4-trip year coming up.
Bring it on.
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